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Apple's Mystery 'Network Adapter' Found in FCC Filing Likely for Internal Use Only

iamgalt said:
While I don't think this item is going to be a consumer product, it's not because of the presence of legacy ports. Apple uses old ports all the time.
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We have about 6 years of “dongle book pro” complaints on this forum. Go back and folks complain about lack of FireWire. Apple hasn’t been afraid of dropping ports. Lightning is an exception considering how consumer unfriendly it would be to switch to USB-c too soon.
Sarkany said:
Outsold by their competitors who had better ideas.
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I think routers were never a good business for Apple. You could still get by with an 802.11g router up until 2014. So folks rarely switched them. That and I doubt most people wanted to buy a router after their internet provider installed one. I’ve lived in a new house for over a year and I still haven’t added my eeros to my network. Something weird about buying routers for your router.
 
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bingeciren said:
Nothing comes close to Airport Express: AP/Router with printer share, two Gigabit ports, Airplay with wired audio out (analog as well as SPDIF). It's a shame Apple dropped them.
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Whilst they had their day, there are a quite few Gbit routers out there, and with the size reeducation of audio equipment, wireless is the most obvious choice for most. But they were definitely ahead of their time.

Apple always say if they can’t make something special, they won’t make it. And I can’t see how they could make a new Airport Express any better than someone else these days Unless it’s Thread/Matter, except even that would be copied and provided cheaper given the openness of the systems.
 
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I'm thinking this may be a specialized adapter for a new set of headphones that supports uncompressed / lossless wireless audio (to get around the serious bandwidth limitations of Bluetooth). Just my 2 cent.
 
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my express (last gen) still works perfectly fine. we have a fairly decent mash network but I am ready for an upgrade. if apple would start offering their own solution I might consider that over what fritz (avm) has to offer.
 
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Still rocking my 6th gen Airport Extreme. No plans of replacing it *knock on wood*. I've always loved Apple's network solutions, they're solid as a rock for basic home networking. As others have said in this thread, this is probably some peripheral and not a true router/mesh network.
 
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MakeAppleAwesomeAgain said:
I'm still rocking two AirPort Extremes from 2013, and I won't be replacing them with another brand for a long time. The wireless signal is strong enough for my needs, and when one of them dies, I will replace them with a second-hand. I've had experiences with almost every wireless router brand, and this model is the most stable router I've ever used. I never had to reboot it.
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I finally had to move on from my AEX last year. Wasn't able to manage my wifi-congested neighborhood or cover my house. I got a standalone Eero 6 Pro, and it's been rock solid.
 
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MacRumors said:
Lastly, the device is "intended to receive its power through a USB-A port during normal use." Apple has replaced USB-A with USB-C connectivity on all of its MacBooks and iMacs, and the idea that it would launch a consumer device with a legacy port as a primary connector is unrealistic.
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This could easily be a SmartHome bridge device, used to connect Smart Devices to a main network. Most smart devices do not use the newer Wifi Standards, due to higher power requirements, so there would be no need to implement WiFi6. Likewise, the use of USB-A for power would allow it to be powered by plugging it in to the back of a TV or cheap consumer charger. Placing a battery inside it, would allow it to use low power sources but occasionally draw larger amounts of power from the battery, which would act as a buffer. There are battery devices available for the Amazon Firestick for example, that insert a battery between the TV and the Firestick, so that it can use larger amounts of power when needed, such as when doing a software update.
 
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After learning about Ubiquiti Unifi consoles I'm never going back to consumer networking hardware garbage. I appreciated the AirPorts when they were around but hard to ditch the Dream Machine.
 
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Also love my last-gen AirPort Extreme/Time Capsules, I run one at home and one at my office. But since they are getting a bit long in the tooth, I also have two separate drives dedicated to CCC and also store copies of critical files in iCloud. Five separate backups should be sufficient, right?
 
Robert.Walter said:
I always wondered why Apple never made hardwired products like Mac mini, Apple TV and HomePod (and other hardwired HomeKit devices) act like network extenders or even a base station.
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Apple computers CAN do that if connected to router via ethernet, using Internet Sharing in Preferences, Sharing. I've used that many times in one hard-to-reach (with signal) room. Ethernet does the heavier lifting to/from Mac. Mac wifi spreads a strong wifi signal around that room.
 
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I would love it if Apple rebooted a router line targeting HomeKit support. Even after hours of tweaking, my HomeKit reliability is janky at best, requiring me to troubleshoot it at least once every 3-6 months. I don't know if it's my Eero or the various third party devices not playing well together, but clearly something isn't quite right.

If Apple could build a mesh network kit around more robust smart home integration, I'd be all over it.
 
Why do people want another AirPort device? There are so much better and more reliable products on the market today. My mesh system is flawless. I had to power-cycle my Airport Extreme on a semi-weekly basis, and not just mine, but same poor performance with a client that had AirPort's in the office. In typical Apple fashion, there is little advanced configuration in an AirPort that other brands have.

Practically every TV or receiver has AirPlay built-in today and with cloud storage, who needs a time capsule? I don't miss that white tower at all.
 
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A surprising amount of RAM! 1.5 GB.

Makes me wonder if they are trying to use whatever RAM is available in these times rather than simply dropping 2 GB in.
 
If you want Apple-like design, functionality and ease of use, take a look at Ubiquiti's offerings (https://www.ui.com).

While their kit is maybe more aimed towards businesses, it works great in a home setting too. Really good hardware and software design, and the kit is generally highly dependable. When the time is right for me, I'll be moving my home networking gear (and future home security) to Ubiquiti gear.

I believe the company was founded by an ex-Apple engineer too.
 
dwaltwhit said:
How awesome would applemesh be?
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Depends. Apple's track record with wireless technology isn't great. Every other OS update breaks something. Did Apple ever fix the BT issues with the M1 Mini? It would probably be the most expensive mesh system on the market and would underperform. No thanks.
 
dmylrea said:
Why do people want another AirPort device? There are so much better and more reliable products on the market today. My mesh system is flawless. I had to power-cycle my Airport Extreme on a semi-weekly basis, and not just mine, but same poor performance with a client that had AirPort's in the office. In typical Apple fashion, there is little advanced configuration in an AirPort that other brands have.

Practically every TV or receiver has AirPlay built-in today and with cloud storage, who needs a time capsule? I don't miss that white tower at all.
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Airport gear was (and still is) highly dependable. I've set up an Extreme and two Express's for my mum and dad several years ago, and they've never, ever had an issue with it. Their house is quite large too, so coverage / signal penetration was a concern, but in practice it works very well.

They've got iPads, Apple TV 4K and a MacBook all running over it. Can't fault it at all.
 
Unggoy Murderer said:
If you want Apple-like design, functionality and ease of use, take a look at Ubiquiti's offerings (https://www.ui.com).

While their kit is maybe more aimed towards businesses, it works great in a home setting too. Really good hardware and software design, and the kit is generally highly dependable. When the time is right for me, I'll be moving my home networking gear (and future home security) to Ubiquiti gear.

I believe the company was founded by an ex-Apple engineer too.
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I moved away from Ubiquiti for my home. The AP-AC Pro's were terrible with regards to coverage. Terrible. Replaced with TP-Link mesh and haven't regretted it once. And I have to 100% disagree with comparing Apple's "ease of use" to Ubiquiti. Ubiquiti's GUI has improved a bit, but to do anything the GUI doesn't offer (and that's a lot), the Command Line Interface is required. That's not easy.
 
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dmylrea said:
Depends. Apple's track record with wireless technology isn't great. Every other OS update breaks something. Did Apple ever fix the BT issues with the M1 Mini? It would probably be the most expensive mesh system on the market and would underperform. No thanks.
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I haven't had any issues with networking after software updates, and I have a fairly non-standard setup.

Says in your footer that you have an M1 mini - you tell us, is bluetooth fixed? Or are you making stuff up?
 
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